RE: Off Topic: NMD/Environment was: (Re: Ada and the NMD)

["Beard, Frank" <beardf@spawar.navy.mil>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Ted Dennison [mailto:dennison@telepath.com]

> We cut down a
> lot of the forests, and are still not planting more than we are cutting,
> so there's no net gain there.

While it's true we harvest a lot trees, the rest of the statement
is a little skewed.  Having relatives in both the forestry and paper
industries, and having read an article from the National Forestry
Service several years ago (don't have the article handy, but if you
peruse their site you can probably track it down), I get some insight
into our forestry management.  

According to the National Forestry Service, we have more national 
forest than ever before in our recorded history of forestry management.
Mainly due to increases in technology in fire control.  We were losing
more forest to forest fires, primarily caused by lightening, than
we were cutting down.  But then they found out that the giant redwoods,
and some others, need fires to help them reproduce, so now they have
controlled fires to perpetuate the species.

As for the paper industry (and Christmas tree industry), they have very
advance land/tree management technology.  Trees are basically grown as
crops.  They have special nurseries where they can get three years 
growth in something like six months by cycling light conditions on and
off in a controlled environment.  Then after a period of time the trees
are planted in the field.  Then there are also the hybrid pines that
were "engineered" to produce taller, straighter, faster growing, and 
less limbed trees.

Granted some hardwoods have been replaced with pines, but then those
areas are harvested and replanted over and over, which is better than
continually removing hardwoods.

The only numbers I haven't seen are the ones related to forest loss
relative to various forms of construction, industrialization, etc.
But, I wouldn't use "Forests covered the entire eastern seaboard,
which is now just one big city from Boston to DC." as a convincing
argument.  There are still many beautiful forested areas on the eastern
side.  And the further west you travel, the less convincing the
argument.  Take a look at some place like the Blue Ridge mountains
in West Virginia.  It was converted from logging into a national 
forest.  Now it's a beautiful heavily forested area.

There is so much more information, on this an other environmental
issues, but I just don't have the time right now to go into them.
Back to CAT3 certification.

Frank